In terms of products that can grab the attention of the consumer and perhaps create a new market, there are many holy grails.
One of these is certainly the foldable display, which would allow smartphone screens to double in size while maintaining the same overall footprint.
Frost and Sullivan report that the market for fully flexible electronic products is estimated to reach a value of $300 billion by 2025.
It took a lot of time and effort to get there. Areas such as encapsulation and flexibility were challenges. When Royole Corporation brought out its FlexPai flexible smartphone in late 2018, it was the first to reach the public.
Today, there are a few foldable smartphones out there; Royole recently introduced its FlexPai 2.
It’s thinner and more lightweight than the original and there is no gap in the screen. Royole Corporation is looking ahead to further success in the field.
“Royole Corporation is a pioneer and the global leader in the flexible electronics industry and is revolutionizing the way people experience and interact with the world,” said Dr. Peng Wei, VP of Royole Corporation. “We have leveraged our proprietary flexible electronics technology to produce fully flexible displays (FFD) and sensors (FFS), and a full range of next-generation human-machine interface products, including foldable smartphones and other smart devices.
“We also provide customized solutions to our customers in six major industries – smart mobile devices, smart transportation, media and entertainment, smart home, sports and fashion, office and education,” Dr. Wei added.
Royole has a number of innovations. The company developed the world’s thinnest 0.01mm-thick fully flexible display, the world’s first mass production line of ultra-thin fully flexible display, the world's first commercial foldable smartphone, FlexPai; and the world’s first wearables featuring high resolution fully flexible display at the 2018 World Cup Final.
Dr. Wei noted that Royole is collaborating with many leading brands.
“Our fully flexible display applies to those six major industries through the strategic collaborations with more than 500 enterprises such as Airbus, Louis Vuitton, Luzhou Laojiao, Gree Eclectic and SF Express,” Dr. Wei said. “FFD’s applications marked many world-first products. For example, we have produced the liquor bottle with fully flexible display by collaborating with one of the most famous and historic Chinese liquor brand Luzhou Laojiao (Guojiao 1573).
“Another product we have created is the new format of advertising which marked the world’s first wearable, fully flexible display advertising in live sport by partnering with Tuta, a well-known sports clothing brand,” Dr. Wei added. “During the official FIBA (International Basketball Federation) Hoptrans 3x3 tournament running through July, all referees were wearing a Royole fully flexible display. Royole also collaborated with Gree Electric and produced the Air Multiplier with the fully flexible sensor.”
2020 has seen the introduction of FlexPai 2 and RoWrite 2, with both providing significant performance, feature and design upgrades over their processors, as well as the Mirage smart speaker in partnership with audio brand Cleer. Royole has also launched RoTree, a digital tree with hundreds of flexible, digitally programmable screens acting as leaves.
Dr. Wei noted that customer feedback has been excellent.
“Royole created a ‘Flexible Planet vision in 2018 with a view to comprehensively developing new flexible electronics technologies, production lines, products and markets,” Dr. Wei added. “The products under the ‘Flexible Planet’ vision are developing rapidly, and partners from all industries appreciate that the products are indeed superior to the traditional technologies.
“We have collaborated with more than 500 enterprise customers around the world, including Louis Vuitton, Airbus, Cleer, China Mobile, Li-Ning, GAC, Toyota, PSA and Legrand, launching many innovative product applications to demonstrate the incredible and numerous possibilities brought by fully flexible display technology,” Dr. Wei added.
Among its partnerships, Royole teamed up with Louis Vuitton to develop the world's first flexible screen fashion handbag, applied ultra-thin flexible screen to the LQ Concept car with Toyota, and signed a strategic cooperation memorandum with Airbus to jointly demonstrate the world's first high-definition, ultra-thin flexible display on the baggage holder.
Royole Corporation and Louis Vuitton unveiled the world's first fully flexible display fashion handbags that were jointly created by both companies at the Louis Vuitton Cruise 2020 Show on May 9, 2019.
“The Royole displays and Louis Vuitton fabric patterns created a contrast between modern and classic, reflecting the full integration of art and technology,” said Dr. Wei. “The R&D and design of the fully flexible display handbag took more than two years with the two companies working closely throughout. The Louis Vuitton design team adopted the flexible electronics solution independently developed by Royole, of which the fully flexible display gave the handbag personalized style through real-time changing visuals and truly unlimited design inspiration. During the 2020 show, Louis Vuitton fashion shoots were played on the light, thin, flexible and color-rich screens.
In March 2020, Royole reached strategic cooperation with ZTE to provide industry-leading flexible display technology solutions. Royole and ZTE will work together to promote the rapid popularization and application of fully flexible displays in smart terminals and other fields in the 5G era.
Wearable T-shirts with flexible display technology was another project that has caught the eye of consumers.
“Beyond the success of the Louis Vuitton partnership, another product we have created are Royole’s Wearable Combo that includes Flexible Shirt and Top Hat, as well as the new format of advertising which marked the world’s first wearable, fully flexible display advertising in live sport by partnering with Tuta, a well-known sports clothing brand,” Dr. Wei noted. “Our flexible displays are thin and durable, and weighing only 80 grams that can be easily incorporated into sports clothing. Even in basketball games where referees are required to run back and forth, the display integrates well with the shirt making it comfortable to wear, and there is no need to worry about screen damage. Meanwhile, the content played on the fully flexible display can be managed at any time through the mobile app so they can be changed mid-game or can roll through different advertisements and logos.”
“Since Royole has introduced the world’s first wearable T-shirt with a fully flexible display, many enterprises and customers are impressed by the innovative technology,” said Dr. Wei. “One of the examples is the collaboration with Tuta; thanks to Royole’s innovative product, it brings us the world’s first wearable, fully flexible display advertising in live sport.”
Royole has received many global awards each year for its innovative products. These include CES Innovation Awards Honoree for Royole’s multiple products every year (2017-2020); five International Design Awards including the Red Dot Design Award for RoWrite Smart Writing Pad and other Flexible+ products; the 2020 CES Tech Award for RoWrite 2; Most Innovative Startup of the Year "5 Under 5“(China) by Scientific American; Annual Tech & Innovation Awards by San Francisco Business Times; The Best of CES by Thomson Reuters, and more.
RoWrite 2 is another of Royole’s innovative products.
“Our newly released smart notebook named RoWrite 2 is a retro and stylish notebook for the digital age that can digitally capture handwritten notes, ideas and drawings on paper with an extremely high level of accuracy and transmit them simultaneously to your smart device,” said Dr. Wei. “The RoWrite 2 has received 2020 CES Tech Awards by CTA and it achieved No.1 Sales Champion for Smart Notebook on JD.com.”
Dr. Wei noted that Royole overcame significant challenges to get its products to the market.
“The fully flexible electronics industry is a newly rising industry, and it needs continuous and endless efforts and innovation,” Dr. Wei continued. “As of now¬, there are two major mass-production technologies for fully flexible displays in the world, which are the traditional LTPS and Royole’s groundbreaking ULT-NSSP (Ultra Low-Temperature Non-Silicon Semiconductor Process).
“Royole’s ULT-NSSP technology entered into mass production in 2018 as the industry’s first for Fully Flexible Display, enabling simplified production process, superior bending reliability, and high yield rates at significantly lower costs and equipment investments in comparison to the LTPS and other manufacturing processes previously adopted for conventional display products by the industry.”
“It is never easy to start a brand new technology and obviously, there were many challenges and problems to overcome in the development of our process and products, and it has taken us many years to do so,” Dr. Wei continued. “Many people call the traditional ‘Fixed-curved OLED display’ as ‘the Flexible Display.’ In fact, they are different.
“The fixed-curved OLED display was fixed after production and can’t be bent by consumers. But flexible display (the exact name should be ‘fully flexible display’) can be bent more than 100,000 times (the new record of bending for Royole’s 3rd Generation Cicada Wing Fully Flexible Display is close to 2,000,000 times). Therefore, Royole’s fully flexible display is much more difficult in technologies, especially for mass production. Since mass production started in our facility in 2018, we have reached a very high level of both performance and yield, and we are constantly making improvements to these key measurements.”
Royole’s unique technology for fully flexible display has many competitive advantages. It is capable of having a bending radius of 1 millimeter and being as thin as 0.01 millimeter. It has less than 20% of the weight of rigid AMOLED displays of the same size. It is shatterproof and functional after close to 2,000,000 folds and offers high color contrast, color gamut and resolution.
“As the pioneer of the flexible electronics industry and a key contributor to the global fully flexible electronic industry, we actively explore independent technical routes and this research-based approach has led to the company being recognized as the global leader. We aim to make positive contributions of key technologies that will enable the continued improvement of flexible electronics products and processes, as well as the long-term development of the market,” Dr. Wei observed.
Dr. Wei said that there are many opportunities ahead for Royole and its fully flexible display technology.
“Fully flexible display technology is playing a key role in the development of a new generation of smart terminals, smart transportation, smart home and more. It really is an exciting and rapidly developing area with infinite possibilities,” Dr. Wei said. “The second generation of Royole’s foldable smartphone with fully flexible display FlexPai 2 will be launched this month.
“Royole will continuously develop the applications of a fully flexible display and fully flexible sensor as well working on various fully flexible technologies such as fully flexible batteries and the applications of semiconductor integrated circuit,” Dr. Wei concluded. “We are excited to see additional wearable flexible display devices coming out and additional products that integrate flexible sensing. As you can see, flexible electronics has the potential to positively impact all aspects of our lives and create a revolution in sensory interactive experiences.”
